Man finds $1.5K in unauthorized PlayStation charges and discovers nephew is to blame. AITA? + UPDATE
"AITA for blaming my nephew for using my credit card without my permission?"
So let me start off with I'm pretty bad at checking the details on my bank statements, but recently something wasn't right. So I went through every single one for the past year, and there were over 100 charges from PlayStation. I only had 4 purchases on my two PlayStation accounts in a single year, so I panicked as someone had my credit card info.
In all, the total charges were around 1500. I contacted both of my siblings who's kids also have accounts and asked nicely if their kids may have purchased anything using my bank account before i make a dispute.
Both said no, so I went ahead and called both PlayStation and my bank. The bank was able to chargeback past few months and rest is under investigation. Well, a few days later I get a frantic call from my teenage nephew who says his PlayStation account was perma banned.
I asked him if he was sure he didn't buy anything with a credit card after I gave him a several hundred dollar PlayStation giftcard for his birthday this summer to spend on stuff, he again denied.
So I have his email logins and sure enough, it was purchases he made to his account. All the stuff he plays. Then he starts to say maybe he bought a few items here and there.
Now my sister is pissed at me. She says I must have added my credit card info to buy him something at some point in time, and it was all my fault he was making purchases from my card.
If it were her credit card, she'd get an alert. Never that he may have taken my credit card info, no. She doesn't want him to lose his account, and said she'll call PlayStation to pay for it all. She said he always asks and she gets alerts and doesn't understand that I didn't, so I shouldn't blame him.
I said well he knew he was spending someone else's money, so why is it my fault? And that he stopped asking her for permission to make purchases because no one stopped him. After that she said I was blaming her kid for everything. So AITA here?
Here were the top rated comments from readers in response to the OP's post:
You are NTA and I am really worried for your nephew. His mother is completely incompetent and she seems determined to send her boy out into the world without even the most basic ethics and standards. You are not going to change her. She just doesn't have the intelligence and morals to make reasonable choices or to treat people with the most basic respect. I would not interact with her.
Potential_Pie_7714 (OP)
And this is certainly not the first time he's been in deep trouble. I was very shocked with how she reacted as she is usually not like this ?.
NTA. If your sister comes back at you, tell her you specifically asked the family if any of them were the ones who made the charges before you disputed them. No one admitted to it, so your only conclusion was that someone stole your credit card information. Your nephew is not only a thief, but a liar too. It is now up to your sister and nephew to resolve the issue with PS by repaying the disputed charges.
Potential_Pie_7714 (OP)
I already canceled that card and will make sure to add alerts ⚠️. I don't have many credit cards, but i will be sure to on those as well. Ty!
She's also wanting to teach her son that his actions should have no consequences by laying the blame on you. Don't let her. He did this. He knew it wasn't his money to spend, yet he did it, repeatedly, over several months/years. He deserves to be punished for that! And not just by losing his PS account. NTA.
Your sister thinks it’s okay for her son to steal, and her major concern is that her son doesn’t lose his PlayStation account? I can see jail in this one’s future. I don’t think they have a PlayStation in jail though. NTA.
Potential_Pie_7714 (OP)
Yep, that's her concern. Not that fact that he spent 1.5k that wasn't his. I'm sure they have a different kind of play station there ?.
I ordered something for my grandma from Sam's club on my account but using her card (she wanted something specific, but she didn't want to figure out how to pay me back). About a month later, I noticed that I hadn't been getting credit card alerts for my Sam's purchases.
I went through my history and realized I'd be paying for my stuff with her card for the last month. I immediately called her, added up everything, and sent her a check the next day. It's one thing to make a mistake, own up to it, and rectify it. It's another thing to enable the behavior and expect happy outcomes. NTA.
Potential_Pie_7714 (OP)
And he lied about it twice. You don't remember hitting confirm purchase 100 times?!
NTA - nephew shouldn't have been making purchases with cc that wasn't his. It was financially risky to use your cc one time without making sure that the data was not saved but that doesn't make you the AH. When you asked if they made purchases- that was the time for him to fess up. He didn't and these are the consequences.
Two days later, the OP returned with an update.
After an intense argument, she was still denying he made the charges at all. I was finally able to show her each and every transaction (before I had only explained and she didn't believe me).
After seeing the evidence, he finally fessed up. He claimed he thought it was HER card ?. She will be paying me for all the money he used on my account and will not be getting the PS5 back, until he works to pay it off.
Even then she may not let him have it. He insists that he will be paying us both double for our troubles. But the real damage done here is the trust that I have lost in both of them.
Here were the top rated comments from readers in response to the OP's update:
OP's sister knew her son did it, otherwise her arguments don't make sense. Her and her son are both boneheads because how do you not know that digital transactions have a multiple paper trails? I would've sold the PS5 and used that money to pay back the funds if it was my kid. If Junior wants another one he can work to earn it after he paid me back for the money he stole.
Some of those comments are really unhelpful. Like I don’t understand the reasoning behind all of the nitpicking. At the end of the day the kid knew that he was using a credit card that wasn’t his no matter how it was on the account.
Jeez the comments are harsh as all hell. Sometimes people are scatterbrained and don’t notice the leakage at first, obviously OP picked up on it relatively soon. The kid is the major ass, how do you even spend 1500 in two months on video games?
I get not noticing $100 a month. I do have my credit frozen and use 2 CC for purchases and just pay the bills as they come in. I do not look at the charges, hubby and I know what comes into the home.
I remember when my sister received an $800 CC bill because my 5 year old nephew found a "hack".